National Grid plc
National Grid plc ( , ) is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom and northeastern United States. National Grid has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £28.7 billion as of 2 August 2013, the 21st-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. History Background (CEGB before 1990) Before 1990, both the generation and transmission activities in England and Wales were under the responsibility of Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). The present electricity market in the UK was built upon the breakup of the CEGB into four separate companies in the 1990s. Its generation (or upstream) activities were transferred to three generating companies - 'PowerGen', 'National Power', and 'Nuclear Electric' (later 'British Energy', eventually 'EDF Energy') - and its transmission (or downstream) activities to the National Grid Company. National Grid and acquisitions (1990-2000) In 1990, the transmission activities of the CEGB were transferred to the National Grid Company plc, which was owned by the 12 Regional Electricity Companies (RECs) through a holding company, National Grid Group plc. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1995.Yahoo Finance Within a year, most of the RECs had disposed of their interests. With the beginning of the new millennium, National grid pursued some major mergers and acquisitions. In 2000, National Grid Group acquired New England Electric System and Eastern Utilities Associates. In January 2002, National Grid Group acquired Niagara Mohawk Holdings, Inc, a New York State utility. In October of the same year, National Grid Group merged with Lattice Group plc, owner of Transco – the UK gas distribution business (Lattice demerged from BG Group in 2000). National Grid Group changed its name to National Grid Transco plc. Expansion and consolidation (2000-present) In 2004, National Grid Transco agreed to sell four of its regional gas distribution networks. The total cash consideration was £5.8 billion. NGT kept ownership of other four distribution networks, which comprise almost half of Great Britain's gas distribution network. In 2005, National Grid Transco was renamed National Grid plc. On 26 July 2005 National Grid Company was renamed National Grid Electricity Transmission plc and on 10 October 2005 Transco was renamed National Grid Gas plc."National Grid History" In February 2006, National Grid announced that it had agreed to buy KeySpan Corporation, a gas distributor and electricity producer in the United States, for $7.3bn (£4.1bn) in cash. Around the same time, National Grid also announced the acquisition of the Southern Union Company subsidiary, New England Gas Company in Rhode Island. The acquisitions of the two natural gas delivery companies materially doubled the size of National Grid's American subsidiary, creating the second largest utility in the United States with more than 8 million customers. The acquisition of KeySpan was completed on 24 August 2007 following government and regulatory approval and endorsement by the shareholders of the two companies. In May 2007, National grid formed a joint venture with the Netherlands transmission operator TenneT for a 1,000 MW BritNed DC link between the Isle of Grain, Kent and Maasvlakte, near Rotterdam. The installation of the first section of cable link started on 11 September 2009, whilst the entire cable was completed in October 2010. The interconnection became operational on 1 April 2011, and as of January 2012, electricity flow has mostly been from the Netherlands to the UK.Justin Wilkes et al. The European offshore wind industry key 2011 trends and statistics p22 European Wind Energy Association, January 2012. Accessed: 26 March 2012. The BritNed interconnection would serve as a vital link for the foreseeable European super grid project. Operations United Kingdom * National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (formerly National Grid Company) owns and operates the National Grid high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales. Since 1 April 2005 it also operates the electricity transmission network in Scotland (although this is still owned by Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy). * National Grid plc part owns and operates a 2,000 Megawatt HVDC link to France (HVDC Cross-Channel) with RTE. * National Grid plc part owns and operates a 1,000 Megawatt HVDC link to the Netherlands (BritNed) with TenneT. * National Grid Gas plc (formerly Transco) owns and operates the gas transmission network (from terminals to distributors), known as the National Transmission System (NTS), and four distribution networks (from national network to customers): North West of England, East of England (which is split into two areas – East Anglia & East Midlands), West Midlands and London; the distribution networks were former regional divisions of British Gas. United States façade of Niagara-Mohawk Power building, Syracuse, New York]] * National Grid USA The utility operates over of electricity transmission and delivers electricity and natural gas to areas of the Northeast states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, serving over 3.3 million customers with electrical power and 3.4 million customers with natural gas. National Grid USA is currently headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts in a LEED certified "green" facility. The US subsidiary carries out its business through a number of subsidiary companies (all doing business as "National Grid"). The main ones are: ** New England Power Company; ** Massachusetts Electric Company (in Massachusetts); ** Nantucket Electric (in Massachusetts); ** The Narragansett Electric Company (in Rhode Island); ** Granite State Electric Company (in New Hampshire); ** Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation (in New York State); ** KeySpan Corporation (on Long Island, NY, and in parts of New York City); ** Boston Gas Company (in Massachusetts); ** Colonial Gas Company (in Massachusetts); and ** EnergyNorth Natural Gas, Inc (in New Hampshire). See also * European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSO-G) * European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) References External links * Corporate site * UK site * Yahoo profile }} Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Category:Electric power transmission system operators in Europe Category:National Grid (Great Britain) Category:Companies established in 1990 Category:Power companies of the United Kingdom Category:Utilities of the United Kingdom Category:Electric power distribution Category:Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Category:Companies based in London Category:1990 establishments in the United Kingdom